HUD secretary: Disaster aid must move faster

Feb. 10--The government must streamline its process of bringing aid money to communities that suffer natural disasters, Secretary Ben Carson of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said on Friday.

Carson made the remarks at a news conference after he and U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger met with local leaders and toured Azalea Manor, a public housing apartment building for older adults in Fayetteville that was damaged by flooding during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

Floodwater from Blounts Creek was several feet deep on the first floor, said Chief Financial and Operations Officer Shannon Pow, forcing residents from that level to evacuate to the upper floors.

The property has since been repaired.

The state and federal government have allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to help North Carolina's Matthew victims. But not all of it has reached them. Some lower-income homeowners in and around Fayetteville and elsewhere in North Carolina who can't afford to repair or replace their homes are still waiting for assistance.

Carson said he recognizes that "the system that exists can use some improvement, because it takes so long to get things done."

Fayetteville City Councilman Larry Wright told Carson that some of his lower-income, elderly constituents who lost their homes remain displaced and don't expect to receive help for several years.

"What's taking so long?" Wright said.

Carson said he met with other federal agency leaders on Monday to discuss how to more rapidly distribute disaster relief. "What we decided, after our meeting on Monday, is that we need to kind of scrap all these things that have been put in place before, and start all over again.

"Because there are a lot of good elements in all the different agencies. But unless they're coordinated in the right way, it just gets in people's way."

President Trump's administration understands that this is a big problem, and "I'm not going to rest until we get it taken care of," Carson said.

North Carolina is due to get $237 million from Housing and Urban Development, including $35 million among Fayetteville and Cumberland County. State officials say the money is months away from reaching hurricane victims.

The money is approved, Carson said. Local officials are to decide how it's released. "That is the big push right now and I think it's complete or almost complete."

A spokesman for Carson said in an interview later there has been a delay because North Carolina officials changed their spending plan from one that HUD originally approved.

Meanwhile, Pittenger said, Congress early Friday voted to allocate another $125 million to North Carolina for hurricane relief.

The housing that Carson toured was built in part with HUD money as part of Fayetteville's Hope VI project for public low-income housing.

"What's been done here, I think is spectacular," Carson said. He noted that he had visited an apartment building for elderly people.

"It is my strong belief that as a humane society, we need to do everything we can to make sure that our elderly experience comfort in their last years of life, and there's an old Chinese saying that says you can determine the morality of a society by how they take care of their elderly," Carson said. "As far as I'm concerned, that's a non-issue.

"What we do have to spend a little more time talking about are those individuals who find themselves in public assistance who are not elderly, who are not disabled. But who seem to be 'stuck.' "

He said people get stuck because in Washington the government comes up with self-sufficiency programs, "and then as soon as they start climbing the ladder, we pull their support." So people don't advance, he said.

"In a way, we've sort of perpetuated that problem. There is a multi-agency council now that is looking at that issue to try to ameliorate it," Carson said.

"We want to encourage people," he said. "The definition of success is not how many people get into federal aid situations, but how many we get out of it. And giving people hope. Real hope."

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at [email protected] and 486-3512.

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